I see many comments of people telling someone, “i wish a would have stopped wtih BLANK headphone, i was happy” or telling others “ignorance is bliss, you should stay there”. Recently i have been listening to a JBL speaker and have enjoyed my music ALOT lol. And i think to myself, “was there really a need to go down this rabbithole?” Where do YOU wish u had stopped?
Whenever you chase “Nirvana” so to speak in whatever you choose, Stopping is not always possible. You may think it is but there will be that small voice that says Keep looking ,keep chasing it!! A voice that is difficult to ignore… Curiosity is a powerful thing… Just my 3 cents
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Sometimes the chase is the journey. Wishing you had stopped is personal. Some people’s tastes grow or change through the journey and some people have varied tastes and find enjoyment of various different types of gear.
We all enjoy different types of music, it’s logical that we’d enjoy different types of audio gear. The only real tragedy is never finding something that pleases you down to your soul.
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Good question - I don’t; at least not yet.
I am very happy to have gone down this rabbithole and found a lot of great gear. I have made buying mistakes, but that is more to ignorence and to go on to a learning curve.
The chase IS part of the journey; I think it is to easy just buying a Utopia/Abyss headset and pair it with Chord Dave etc. and call it the end. I want the progress and the journey is great fun. 2 years ago I would never consider buying a headset over $500 and now I have two ZMF headphones (still waiting for my Eikon…).
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I wish I had stopped when I used to think, “this gaming headset is just fine” then my wallet suddenly became empty. Lmfao
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I’ve never heard anyone say they wish to stop. it’s education and enjoyment…who would ever want to stop that?
Education and enjoyment? Yeah, draining your wallet on the other hand because higher end equipment is very pricey? Different story lol cause then you see other things you want too and its just like, well I couldve bought that buuuuut I went and bought this $400+ amplifier
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there are other factors involved such as resources, but that doesn’t mean one has to stop.
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I wish I had stopped because then I wouldn’t have known how great audiophile sound is, how good my music and games could sound, and my wallet wouldn’t be drained dry to a comical puff of dust when opening it. Ignorance is bliss as they say.
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I am definitely getting pretty close to that point now. I used to look through my collection and all I could see were pieces that were okay, but needed to get upgraded or replaced. When I talked about or thought about my pieces it was always “They’re/It’s pretty good but I want to…”
Now I look at my gear and mostly feel love:
Love my DAP.
Like my DAC, but have been told I should upgrade it. 
Love my tube amp, with the right headphones.
Love my hybrid amp, with the right headphones.
Love my solid state amp with pretty much all the headphones, but has to be SE.
Headphone wise,
Love my Grado’s, but I always wonder about the GS and PS series. 
The Sundara’s have been Way better than I expected and it does make me curious about the family tree.
I Love my Elex’s although I hear the Clear are better. But these Really speak to me.
The Meze 99 Classic’s are the jack of all trades, master of none headphone. Never the best, but I have had them the longest.
Only product that sticks out in a negative way is the Fostex TH-610. Did a driver tune-up and have a balanced cable on the way. I don’t feel love when I pick them up or put them on. Not sure they are really much better than the 99’s…
Last item is the Koss ESP/E95X electrostatic system. It really has been taking a back seat to all the new toys. When everything settles by September, I have to see where and if these fit in.
I think I am pretty close to the end for me. I could see the rest of 2020 coming down to one new DAC, one new pair of great closed backs on the acquisition side and several headphones leaving. And that would be end game for me on DAP’s, DAC’s and amps unless something breaks.
Headphones will always be a variable and I can’t imagine a calendar year going by without a new headphone. 
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At an intersection in my home town after a blizzard to turn onto a one way street. I didn’t look the other way, so got totaled by a snow plow going the wrong way.
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Ive spent over 4000$ on audio stuff. Sometimes i really mourn this cause i see people in the world and what their going through. and 4000$ would be a fortune to them. a nest egg. and here i am fooling around with it like its no big deal. idk.
Thing is i really like the journey ive been on doing this. going from the cheaper stuff to the more expensive. its really been a LOT of fun. I feel enriched. When i was a kid i used to dream about doing this. especially when you heard about some people in the world and how expensive and great their setup is. how it sounded.
Ive really rediscovered my music too and i have a ball listening to it again. a lot of times i think “oh remember that song!? I wonder how it would sound in my gear!”. Last night i was listening to Hall and Oats. I’m not that big a fan of Hall and Oats. And their stuff ive heard too much. its really tired. but man it was sounding fantastic with my gear last night. And i thought “I really got to get a better DAC!”
Now im thinking of buying a Bifrost for 700$ 
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I think the problem with many is they move through the hobby too fast and kinda dont really contemplate where they are at and just go . I’m a pretty impulsive buyer and collector and if something is a limited time product and IU want it I tend to just buy it right away. audio is a different beast where when you boil it down it comes down to “does my music sound good?” and with my humble little collection I’ve said yes so many times that I dont really need to upgrade anymore even if I want to break the mid fi barrier Im at its hard for me to justify the cost. but I am also at the level where I can be slow with the upgrades and acquisitions , I have a amp and dac that should power most I have headphones to listen to music and iwhenever I have the financial means I can really just buy anything I want even though I already can but I dont have that itch anymore. aside form getting a dirty bassy closed back that is. Im alos at a unique position where this is not my only hobby and dip my toes in many other hobbies so my money gets distributed around constantly to my other hobbies that by the time I get into audio I end up getting that sub $50 IEM or that cheap earbud.
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You have done it right @Jose_G . Found a good pair of speakers and can just enjoy the music.
But still. I don’t see a reason why stop.
I also have managed to get great speakers and can enjoy to music. If i would upgrade.
The perfect sound signature would remain but i would still get more of it = bigger speakers.
More emotions and specially a bigger feeling of sound.
Like being in mid sized orchestra or movie theater as where i currently am.
There is a way to upgrade even to a larger or massive orchestra and those VIP sound first movie theaters. More of everything that is so good and lovely.
There is more, not just in this current time and date. 
Need to plan more of everything and figure the financial side as well.
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I’m new to the whole hifi thing, so I haven’t experienced that yet. Everything I have right now was such a massive improvement from what I had before that don’t feel like I’ve really entered the diminishing returns stage yet. But then again, I don’t really plan to upgrade that much further, I mostly have things I want to add(subwoofer, a better mobile audio solution, and decent HT). But knowing myself once I have all the pieces I won’t able to stop myself there.
The only thing I’m planning that might not end up being worth it is I might replace my Elear with a Clear if a deal comes along, but that’s probably a year or more from now, as I’m very happy with the Elear for now.
Yeah, it was the same for me, and it’s the thing that makes it all worth it. Rediscovering music I used to listen to, and finding enjoyment in trying new music again.
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In my opinion part of any hobby, especially when combined with the hive/group/forum mindset is the growth and learning experiences that take place as time passes. Life is short and we choose how to spend our time, experiences come and go but the knowledge and memories are forever. Without the past learning experiences i would not be at the level i am today in any of my hobbies/skillsets. Few people are born with any particular abilities, most are learned and developed along a way of natural progression.
In my youth i wasted too many prime and precious years trying to start at the top of many a journey. Almost to the last, i failed at everything 
BUT even in those instances i was fortunate enough to LEARN. Because i was fortunate enough to understand why i was failing i stepped back and hit the re-set button in my life and swore to myself to see things through from beginning to end from that point forward.
Back to your question, I will stop once I have gained the experience and knowledge to master my hobby/skillset to a point of competent ability when i no longer feel the need to do every step with single minded focus and effort. Once i reach a level of competence which flows forth with “naturalness” the desire and urge to excel, learn, and progress wanes enough in me so that i can then move forth without spending every waking moment obsessed over that particular topic. Life will often times interfere with my ability to progress in things and sometimes put a stop to things, it happens. 
My own personal endgame is near, but only because i have reached a personal measured level of satisfaction, progression and knowledge. Happy listening always.
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I see so much people in this forum returning headphones after like 5 minutes because they got “a bit too much treble” or tiny simple things as easy to fix as, twisting the headband a bit or trying new pads…
It’s like they want, the absolutely perfect headphone to fit their particular earhole shape, otherwise they’ll buy something more expensive 
Also there’s so much choice, you have to calm down and enjoy what you have before buying other things, or else you’ll end up like Zeos: A wall of headphones and a wall of speakers you use all like a few minutes a year max…
And finally, the idea that “this headphone sounds great for this genre” so you need 1000 headphones for 1000 genres… I don’t get it. Lol. IMO, if your headphones/speakers can’t do everything right – if you can’t press “shuffle” and enjoy everything (except maybe one or two shitty recordings)… they’re not right for you.
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While a headphone a genre isn’t really great I like having a portfolio of specialists rather than one all rounder different moods and purposes. I more collect based on sound sig not because they are great for a specific genre but because I like that sound sig for most genres depending on mood. Like sometimes I just was a neutral laid back experience, or sometimes I just want to listen and analyze my music. Or sometimes I just wanna have fun. I also listen to a wider variety of music than most I go from baroque music one day then go to scream rap the next so having a wide portfolio of gear is nice for that
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Cuz " Guru’s just wanna have fun" !!!..Shit now that song is in my head!! LOL!!
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